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Posted on October 30th, 2009 in News & Views

Jefferson County bond swap advisor indicted

By Kyle Whitmire

Jefferson County commissioners aren’t the only targets of federal investigators. On Thursday, a federal grand jury in New York indicted Jefferson County’s former swap advisor, CDR Financial Products, as well as three former and current executives from the company.

The indictment, unsealed yesterday, uses pseudonyms for as-yet unindicted parties, but the time period specified within the indictment — from 2001 through 2004 — coincides with complicated derivatives called interest rate swaps that Jefferson County engaged in then. Authorities have accused CDR and its executives of rigging bids and accepting kickbacks.

A swap advisor evaluates the fairness of the transactions for its clients. However, the advisor does not get paid unless the transaction happens, creating a potential conflict of interest.

jeffcosealThe indictment follows a three-to-four-year investigation involving the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation has nosed around some major financial institutions, including JP Morgan, which acted frequently as a counter party on bond swaps with Jefferson County. Another bank, Bank of America, has entered a leniency agreement with the government in exchange for cooperation.

Earlier this year, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew from the running for an Obama cabinet appointment after the same investigation unearthed ties between CDR and his administration.

Lawyers for CDR and its executives have denied the indictment’s allegations.

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  • SBurks
    This has been coming for a long time, and I'm glad they are finally going after the rest of the culprits in this matter. Thanks for shining some light on this, we need to demand accountability from our leaders.
  • Almoderate
    It'll be YEARS before they get to the bottom of this cesspool. I expect Lehman Bros. and Goldman Sachs are in this just as deep as JP Morgan. Unfortunately the FBI is still up to its eyeballs in public corruption cases.
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